We’re delighted that a new Landmark Trust television programme, £1 Million Restoration: Historic House Rescue, is now available to watch online with All4.
First broadcast at 9pm on bank holiday Monday 30 August on More4, the show follows our restoration of Cobham Dairy in Kent. Presented by Landmark's director Dr Anna Keay, it illuminates the expertise and skills involved in bringing a Grade II* building back from the brink of ruin.
Filmed over several years, the programme reveals the historical research that went into the project and the strange and surprising story of Georgian ornamental dairies. It also follows the team of craftspeople as they re-create its remarkable Gothick interiors with original techniques and materials, and John Evetts on the hunt for the perfect furnishings.
The rescue of Cobham Dairy has been one of the most transformational of all Landmark's many projects. The 18th-century building had been boarded up and derelict for decades, with the rescue only possible thanks to many generous supporters. This included a lead donation from Ecclesiastical Insurance, grants from charitable trusts, gifts in wills, income from the Landmark raffle and donations both large and small from over 1,500 individual supporters. We are hugely grateful to all who so generously helped make the project possible.
£1 Million Restoration: Historic House Rescue is the first in a series of four new programmes, with each episode capturing the metamorphosis of a different Landmark restoration project. Our charity exists to rescue precious yet imperilled buildings across Britain, with current projects including sites as varied as the 16th-century Fairburn Tower in the Ross-shire and - if we can raise the funds - the medieval Calverley Old Hall in Yorkshire. The new programmes follow the two-part special on rescuing Llwyn Celyn, first broadcast in January 2018 and still available for catch up from here.
Unfortunately we have no control over transmission details and we anticipate that only those in the UK may be able to view the programme - however, we hope that the series may be available internationally in due course.
Watch £1 Million Restoration: Historic House Rescue from here.
Explore Cobham Dairy